Birthday special: Jason Holder – The captain who always leads from the front
The right-arm medium-fast bowler and the lower-order batsman hailing from Barbados, Jason Holder has grown by leaps and bounds both as a player and a captain of the West Indies cricket team. As the all-rounder is celebrating his 29th birthday on November 5, 2020, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the players of IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), let’s flip the pages and reflect on Holder’s journey from the youngest captain to the leader who leads from the front.
After a mesmerizing career in the domestic circuit, Holder was handed the much-awaited ODI debut on February 1, 2013, at Perth against Australia. Though it was a forgettable match for the West Indies, the all-rounder named Aaron Finch as his first international wicket. Jason got his coveted Test cap against New Zealand in the third Test of the home series in June 2014. Though he could pick only 2 wickets, he showed his character with the bat by scoring a fifty in the losing cause.
Happy birthday to West Indies captain Jason Holder, who turns 29 today.
? 3944 runs and 265 wickets in international cricket
? One of the three captains to score a double century and taken ten wickets in Tests.
? 2016 World T20 winner pic.twitter.com/Ost2myvyDT— Green Team (@GreenTeam1992) November 5, 2020
Holder named Captain during the crisis
In 2014 after some players had a feud with the West Indies cricket board, then captain Dwayne Bravo was axed from the skipper’s role and Holder became the youngest ever West Indies captain at the age of 23 years and 72 days. His first real test was an away series against South Africa, where his captaincy came under scanner after the team lost the five-match series by 4-1. However, the management showed faith in the youngster and handed him the responsibility of leading the team in World Cup 2015.
The decision reaped results as Holder led the team to the quarter-finals of the 2015 World Cup where they lost to New Zealand. In the tournament, Holder scored two consecutive fifties, both in losing causes, against South Africa and then India.
On 4 September 2015, he was named as the captain of the Test side for the tour to Sri Lanka. He became the second-youngest Test captain of all time for the West Indies and 15th youngest of all time for any Test Nation.
Holder has had it much tougher as a captain, acquiring the job well before he was ready. Though the Caribbean side lost many home and away fixtures under Jason Holder, he was widely appreciated for leading a relatively young team in the absence of experienced players like Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels from the front.
The Golden Year
2017 can be considered as a golden year of Jason Holder as he had grown into the job of a captain and exhibited an ever-improving temperament and progress in technical and tactical awareness. While playing against India in July 2017, Holder took his maiden ODI five-wicket haul (5/27), in a low scoring game against India. West Indies had put up a target of only 189 runs on the board as the heroics of the captain helped the team in winning the game by 11 runs. For his good captaincy and impressive bowling performance, Holder was also awarded the man of the match award.
Touring England earlier this year in July, West Indies had clinched the first match of the three-match Test series. Though they lost the series by 2-1, this was the first time in 20 years that West Indies has won the opening Test of a series on English soil. This victory also ensured that Holder overtakes Brian Lara in terms of winning the Test matches for West Indies. Jason Holder is at the joint third spot with 11 wins from his 35 Tests as captain.
Jason Holder’s case is a classic example of why captains should never be judged solely on wins and losses. The all-rounder has remarkable achievements to his name in terms of leading an under-staffers team at an age of 23. Things will only improve from here on and Jason Holder will be keen on taking the Test team to newer heights as his hard work is paying off now.
